Three Chapters, Three OCs
by o0-Constance-0o
Summary: I couldn't decide which story to write, so I am letting the public decide! Three different plots, three different OCs, and many different issues to play with! Please let me know which you prefer! Kakashi/Female OC
1. Urchin

_**Author's Notes:**_ Well hello all! Yes yes, I know I am very used to writing Yaoi fanfiction but I am still quite the fan of romance of many genders and saw fit to write a female OC/Kakashi fanfiction of my own, since so little exist out there. However, I need your help!

The rules are simple. I have three BEGINNING chapters of three seperate ideas for an OC and I can't decide which one to write about, so I am leaving it up to you to decide. Each chapter has it's own seperate plot, characters, ideals, style and general goings-on.

Please leave your choice of chapter in the reviews section, the chapter with the most votes will become an ongoing story at the start of next year. Please also remember that these stories are all M rated, and as always I will post warnings at the top of each chapter should it contain violence, swearing, or scenes of a sexual nature.

I will leave a brief summary at the end of each chapter, describing the plot more or less of the story and how I want it to play out to give you a better idea. After all, one chapter is not much to go by now is it? :3

Onwards!

**_Urchin_**

Everywhere… hurt. But it was neither agonising nor debilitating. It was like a blow that you don't feel until seconds after, and the shock was demanding and resonating through his skin. Like a barely healed scar that you pick without meaning to.

Kakashi kept his eyes firmly closed, fighting the thick fog shrouding his thoughts. He remembers… collapsing. In the forest. Or was it a field? After he killed his target. But his position…it was compromised. They chased him. A good score of them too, and they were fast too but he was faster…

Obviously not fast enough.

Hence falling unconscious. And the pain.

It wasn't the first time he's fallen unconscious. The body, though lax, never really rests when it's like that. In the back of his mind, he was expecting the exhausted headache and sudden drain to hit him like-

Oh_ God_, there it was, like a tonne of bricks to the back of the head. He groaned; a small, choked sound in the bottom of his lungs. His mouth was so dry, and when he turned his head and clenched his eyes, the effort alone was-

"Mornin', sunshine,"

… Well, that was unexpected… There were two possible scenarios. He was taken captive and the cheery voice was actually mocking him, meaning the impending torture was sure to follow, or… he was dead. And this was afterlife.

Cracking an eye open, he looked blearily at his surroundings. Everything was old broken wood and rusted tin nailed together to give some semblance of shelter… like a shoddily built shed. The ceiling was full of holes, sunlight poking through and blinding him for a brief moment, before something, or someone loomed into view, kneeling over him and blocking the light. _Is that you, God?_

He tried to focus on the face, but it was so hard.

A hand rested on his forehead. It felt gritty, dirty.

"Hmm, no fever. I'm guessin' that's a good sign, eh Shinobi-sama?"

The voice sounded… high, feminine. A common accent, particularly from Rock, if he was right. Of course he was still trying to figure out where he was and if this person was a threat or not, but with a wash of relief, he felt no hostile presence. Things were becoming clearer. Obviously he wasn't dead, but it didn't rule out the fact that he could be held against his own will.

"I'll get you some water," the voice said, before the soft sound of feet against old wood could be heard. Sloshing water, metal, the steady hum of leaves in the breeze but no accompanying air following it. He was inside.

The underside of a can was shoved in front of his gaze, a drop of water rolled from the side, onto his nose. It shook, emphasising the noise of the liquid.

"Here ya go," the voice strained slightly when that gritty, dirty hand wormed underneath his head, shakily trying to force him up by the back of his neck. It managed, and he didn't have the strength to help either. He was supported – barely – on a pair of bony legs so his head was ever so slightly elevated, and that hand was back, tugging down the edge of his mask.

At first he squirmed and made a noise of protest, the muscles in his arm stiffly jerking when he tried to raise a hand to stop the intrusion on his personal space, but the voice chided him.

"Now, none of that," it said in a motherly sort of fashion, as though he were a naughty child, "you've been out for a long time, and this water'll do you a world of good."

Water. Water sounded fantastic.

Against his better judgement, he allowed the hand to carefully pull the soft cotton down, and that awful feeling was back again. The small palm was cupping his chin, and he could feel the clammy, distasteful feeling of dirt and sweat caked onto the skin, against the clean feeling of his own. He shuddered, and yet the disgust he had was replaced with an incredible sensation of relief. Drops of water moistened the crevice of his cracked lips, and he opened them obediently as cool metal rested against the bottom lip, tipping the contents slowly into his mouth.

It was like the elixir of life. And strangely, he began to think – with the glorious feeling of water running down his parched throat – if this really was heaven.

It was over far too soon, and his eyes focused just that bit more. The fog that surrounded everything diminished a little, and his eyes gazed around dazedly at his surroundings. He was exhausted; his eye felt swollen, needing sleep.

The space… was so incredibly small. It was a wonder how his whole body managed to fit across the floor, being as unnaturally tall as he was. It looked like stuff had been shoved out of the way just so he could fit. Everything was rusted old metal and dusty wood and timber. A small broken crate near to him held a blackened pot and old twisted cutlery. Looking down, he quickly realised he was on a small pile of blankets and cushions, worn, dusty and patchy in many places. They were frayed, and smelled musky.

Where the hell was this place…?

But that wonderful sound of sloshing water quickly caught his attention again and following soon after was the metal can under his mouth. Eyes clearer now, he could see the rust on the end of the can, taste the metal as it entered his mouth, but nothing had ever felt so good. Smelled as sweet as water did at that moment.

The process of making him drink was repeated several times, and slowly he could feel the moisture returning to his skin, his eyes and mouth. He heard the clink as the can was placed down, and the knees previously digging in between his shoulder blades slid from underneath him. His head was gently replaced on a ragged old cushion once more, and he blinked a few times to adjust to the new angle.

Gradually, Kakashi became more aware of his own body even though his eyelid was falling. The tingling in his muscles as the tight stiffness began to take hold, and after a short time, each and every injury he had.

They were numerous, and he was sure they were painful if he could actually remember to the fullest extent what happened. Most were slashes, across his shoulder, forearms where he tried to block their strikes, and one particularly painful one on his face.

However – and it could have easily been his imagination, brought on by being out for an extended period of time – when he grimaced he could swear he felt the pull of… stitches?

"Can you move, Shinobi-sama?"

The owner of said voice was hovering over him, a tangle of matted hair and a face so dirty he couldn't even tell if it was male or female. Presuming – by voice alone – that it was indeed a girl, her face was covered in grime, powdered with grit and streaked with mud with red-rimmed eyes and chapped lips. And her hair was much the same, dry, and caked together in filthy, knotty dreadlocks.

Her brow furrowed when he didn't answer, and she reached over him, pulling the edges of the blanket up over his body and tucking it in at the side.

"Get some rest," she said, watching as his eyelid drooped every so often, "I'm makin' food later, so I'll wake you up to eat."

The command was too tempting to disobey, and a bare few seconds later, he felt his body finally relaxing, sinking as far as it could into the ratty old cushions, thanking some far off deity he was alive.

* * *

_**Summary:**_ Alot of this story has to do with the state of this OC. The main point of her was that she tries to survive even though she is in the midst of poverty, illness and starvation. She's extrememly empoverished and very emaciated, but her kindness does not go unnoticed by Kakashi and he sees fit to pay her back by offering her a home. The main plot is how she subtly changes Kakashi's views on the world with simple acts. It also has some issues with age-gaps in relationships and the difference between age-level and maturity. Most of the things I wanted to touch on was my OCs ability to listen and understand without judgement and how her own lifestyle dictates how she can stay so cheerful even under the harshest of situations.

As well as this, I wanted to bring up the issue of self-entitlement; the idea that because of one's station people believe they are entitled to things and it often turns selfish and jealous or hateful.

She's absolutely useless when faced against someone physically more powerful and violence is not something she is accustomed with. This story is mostly emotion-based and alot of it will circle the budding relationship with all these issues arising, such as violence, age, social grace, fear, hurt and comfort etc.


	2. Manipulator

_**Author's Notes:**_ And now for the next story. Same rules apply, please leave whichever chapter you prefer in the reviews section and I will tally the votes in the coming year to continue on with whichever chapter is picked.

_**Manipulator**_

"You're the best, sensei," Naruto crooned, falling short of swinging out of Kakashi's arm when the man smoothly dodged out of the way of the bounding teenager, "seriously, I mean, you're totally awesome. Isn't he Sakura-chan?"

He had long since drowned the teen out after the first ear-splitting screech when he asked his student if he wanted something to eat. Years spent by the blonde's side hardened him to such things.

The medic however, still refused to accept Naruto's loud personality and promptly slapped him upside the back of the head, "Will you keep it down? I've spent the whole day in the hospital nursing the wounded and all you can think about is RAMEN?"

Kakashi, still not used to the more feminine hollering, audibly winced.

"But yeah, thanks Kakashi-sensei, I missed my lunch break," she quietened down considerably and smiled, the huge lump on the blonde's head pulsating from her mighty blow.

In short, Kakashi thought they deserved a break after everything. Konoha was still in total devastation; both he and Naruto had spent the last six and a half hours on the building sites trying to re-construct what was once their beloved village and Sakura had been in the hospital since the wee hours of the morning.

It was mid-afternoon, hot, already three months into Danzo's reign as the new Hokage and everyone was still wondering when things would return to normality. Sakura's stress levels reached an all-time high when she finally realised that it would be a long time before her beloved _Master_ would make a recovery and in that sense; Kakashi was a little worried about the kunoichi's mental health.

She was a strong girl, but he had seen her break down before and the last thing he wanted was that happening again, not when she seemed so together.

And then there was Naruto; the boy with more shit on his plate than anyone he had ever met. Buying them lunch was a mere break from the harsh reality they were all facing.

Everyone had been reduced to living in tents outside the village while the re-construction was going on. The civilians were the first to receive immediate housing, but the majority of Chuunin and Jounin were still homeless, not to mention on important missions. Those who weren't away worked day and night building and tending to the weak.

Despite all that, Naruto seemed his usual, peppy self, bouncing around like a maniac and cracking filthy jokes he could have only learned from his late sensei. Something about his sunny attitude, regardless if he was wearing it as a mask or not, was slightly refreshing.

They dodged a group of men carrying timber and continued on their way through the chaos to find Teuchi's makeshift stand he was sharing with Oeyo-baachan, who owned a tea-house chain through Konoha. They had both greatly slashed their prices to suit the people who had so little money, much to Naruto's delight and Ayame-chan worked her fingers to the bone to get as many people fed as she could.

Builders, construction workers from all over the country and tradesmen regularly ate at Teuchi's tent, and this day was no exception.

The smell of fresh tea, soup and good food filtered out from the tent and hung in the air, reminding Kakashi of just how hungry he was, and some smell of foreign perfume he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Sakura, obviously just feeling her hunger hit her at that moment too, pushed back the canvas of the tent while clutching her stomach and walked inside, Naruto and Kakashi following after her. Unfortunately, the canvas fell back before the Copy-Ninja entered, so Naruto stopped and Kakashi slammed straight into the boy as he pushed it back to enter.

Stumbling slightly and glaring in an offended manner at the orange lump in front, he grew a little worried when his student made no effort to apologise, or even acknowledge that Kakashi had just butted him full-force in the thighs with his knees. The teen stayed motionless, mouth agape, arms slack and feet frozen to the dirt below. The Copy-Ninja followed his line of sight around the interior of the small tent, over the counter where Teuchi was cooking to a row of free seats to-

- Quite possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

She was at the corner of the counter, eyes fixed on the leaves swirling about in her tea held between two elegant, long fingered hands, the steam only slightly obscuring her beautifully defined features. A sharp nose, pale pouty lips curled in a contemplative smile and white eyebrows hugged her brow in high arches. Her hair, a shockingly stark white was held up in an elaborate hairstyle, even brighter in contrast to her already porcelain skin.

If he could guess, by the rich, evening blue silk kimono she was wearing, the light powder of makeup on her face and the golden embroidery on the end of her clothing, she was either incredibly wealthy or very important.

The woman stood out in such a contrast to everyone surrounding it was hard _not_ to look at her. Everyone else seemed to fade away into the background until it was just her sitting at the counter, tea in hand with a light smile and glittering hair styled to perfection wafting _such_ a sweet fragrance-

And the tent was unbearably quiet. Grubby builders shifted uncomfortably, eyes darting to the woman before looking away fiercely. Kakashi rolled his eyes and urged Naruto forwards with two fingers into the small of his back.

"… _Hello_? What's wrong with you?" Sakura had been punching the teen in the arm for quite some time now, but he had been so fixated on the view that he hadn't even noticed.

It seemed that some of the men were quite _offended_, by the look of it. They blamed the foreigner for making them look filthy in contrast to her cleanliness, shifted awkwardly as though they felt they had to be quiet, composed, grumbled at the filth caked into their skin and hair. They seemed to think she was judging them.

Kakashi was not so easily intimidated.

Naruto, still a little dazed, sat himself next to Sakura and ordered, and the Copy-Ninja, realising the only seat left in the entire tent was right next to _her_, slumped wearily onto the seat with his arms folded on the counter, famished.

He could… _feel_ her eyes glancing up at him curiously before looking back down into her tea with half interest. Naruto ordered for them and shifted uncomfortably on his stool, glancing across at the woman every so often. The kunoichi too, seemed interested if only mildly in comparison to her teammate, and possibly only out of sheer curiosity.

Kakashi was suddenly very aware of the absolute filth caked onto every inch of him; he had been helping with the reconstruction and was covered from head to foot in grime, dust, mud, bits of plaster and wood chippings. His hair was a matted, dirt-encrusted mess; the sun burned his shoulders and forearms until they were raw and scarlet red and on top of that, he _stank_ of sweat and labour.

Not that it usually mattered to him, but there was something about the woman's presence that felt like you had to be at your best around her.

A cup of coffee was placed in front of him, and Kakashi knew he was just being foolish as he picked it up robotically, letting the warmth spread over his hands. She obviously didn't care about the state anyone was in, and why he was even worried about it was ridiculous. But he still couldn't shake the feeling of being ever so slightly judged, and while he did try to stamp the feeling down, reminding himself that it honestly didn't matter, it stayed firmly where it was.

Though that feeling of her eyes sweeping over him again sent a shiver down his spine; he turned his head to look at her questioningly and she met his gaze without a single hesitation. They stayed like that for some time, assessing each other's threat value, and gradually she shied her gaze away to the side, before uttering;

"Have we met?"

If he hadn't have seen her mouth move, he would have been sure she hadn't spoken at all. Kakashi scowled, not re-calling ever seeing this woman before. Wracking his brain to try to conjure up the image, he stayed silent for a few moments, searching through some drunken memories he had perhaps overlooked, silently praying she wasn't one of his one-night stands-

If she was, for the life of him he couldn't remember her name. And that was just _embarrassing_.

"I don't recall," he answered curtly, sipping his coffee and taking note of how her mouth twisted slightly into a frown.

"Hmm, you seem familiar," she said, her voice low and her diction sophisticated; she looked up with inky blue eyes through shockingly white lashes, "would you tell me your name?"

Kakashi wasn't the type of man to carelessly give information away to a total stranger, especially not a foreigner who could just as easily become an enemy the next day and to the Copy-Ninja, his name was very important. The information she could access on him was limitless and just for his name alone; it could easily give her the advantage.

But… that was a very hard face to say no to. Ninja or not, he was still very much a man and she was _very_ much a woman. An incredibly attractive woman with a straight posture and a breathy, _intelligent_ tone and eyes that said butter wouldn't even melt in her mouth. While the question in itself seemed perfectly harmless and her demeanour was relaxed, without hostility, it could be a well placed cover. Torn between the two, Kakashi didn't really know how to answer her. She waited patiently, smiling prettily, one long manicured nail running along the rim of her cup.

Naruto, unfortunately, took his sensei's silence as being rendered speechless and instantly snapped from his daze to elbow the older man in the ribs with an evil grin, muttering; "Go on Kakashi-sensei, the pretty lady wants to know your name. Aren't you going to tell her? What's the matter, Kakashi-sensei, don't tell me you never spoke to a lady befo-"

Luckily he still had enough wits in him to grab the boy by the back of the head and ram him face-first into the counter, hence ceasing his bluster of teasing painfully. Sakura let out a snort of laughter. The woman's smile grew in amusement, a finely arched brow dipping slightly when she shook her head.

"So, _Kakashi_ then," she nodded curtly in greeting, "it seems I do know you."

"Oh really," he asked suspiciously, raising a brow.

"Indeed," he voice had grown bolder, the tone musical, "I doubt there is a village around who hasn't heard of Hatake Kakashi."

The back handed compliment didn't go unnoticed; relating to his… _infamy_ on the battlefield while still acknowledging the fact that he was indeed widely known around the ninja world. But if her look was anything to go on, her chakra signature that was almost undetectable and the flawless, perfect skin on her arms, neck and face; she was no ninja.

Kakashi deduced she was a dignitary, and judging by the three and a half foot sword resting against her hip; a dignitary who could defend herself. If he could locate her guards (and he was sure that someone with political importance would have her own guards) he would have a better advantage should something arise.

"As I can see by your attire, you have been helping with the reconstruction all day, yes?" She asked, looking pointedly at the stains and dirt on their clothes; Kakashi resisted the urge to cover them up in embarrassment.

"Not me," Sakura piped up just as a bowl of dumplings was placed in front of her, "I'm a medic, I've been in the hospital since this morning."

"Truly? That's very good of you, to help the wounded. I hope they pay you well."

Sakura blushed and scratched the back of her head, taken in by the woman's charm; "Well… it's voluntary for the moment. I only get paid for certain missions, but I'm learning a lot so it's worth it, I think."

"Yeah, Sakura-chan is totally amazing at healing; she's even training under the Hokage," Naruto managed to choke out between his furious noodle eating. The kunoichi blushed harder under the flurry of compliments.

"I'm impressed," the swordswoman turned to the blonde, "and I presume by your appetite you too, have been working hard all day?"

"Yeah, well… you know," Kakashi took note of the teen's face reddening madly, "it's not easy. There's, like, sooo much stuff we have to rebuild. Like today, me and Kakashi-sensei helped the construction guys carry the timber over to the plot. Oh, _and_ I learned how to plaster a wall and I nearly killed myself trying to help with the copper piping and…"

The Copy-Ninja soon drowned him out, watching the woman as she listened politely to Naruto's grammatically incorrect spiel of how much work the two of them completed over the course of the day. Despite how much the blonde joked around and played pranks, how clumsy he could truly be and impatient he got, he worked his fingers to the bone the past few weeks. Naruto loved Konoha and everyone in it, and helping rebuild his once beloved home was just a small part of the much bigger deeds he had done to help it, protect it.

But the only thing that bugged him was, despite the politeness, the woman sure asked a lot of questions. He narrowed his eye when she chuckled at something the teen said.

"And you," she turned to him some seconds after Naruto went back to his ramen, "you are their sensei?"

Kakashi nodded.

"… I hope you're proud of them."

Completely taken aback by the statement, he only barely noticed another man entering the tent before he was standing beside the white-haired woman, bowing to her respectfully and apologising for interrupting them.

"Please excuse me," he ground out from, as Kakashi noticed by the wide, puckered scars across his neck; a damaged trachea. The man was nothing but complete and utter _muscle_. He was _huge_, not just broad, but tall with arms as thick as tree trunks and a barrelling chest half-hidden underneath a frayed haori. Wild, thick black hair was bound in an angry tuft at the back of his head with stubble to match, broken in places along his jaw where the scars marred his skin. His right eye was missing; in its place was a giant X shaped scar, whitened by time.

The man wore his sword arm in his sleeve, typical of most Ronin samurai, the other arm and corresponding side of his massive chest was bare, his shoulders covered in broken armour. He looked like he just stepped out of a battle.

And if Kakashi hadn't been looking directly at him, he would have sworn he wasn't there at all. There was no chakra signature, even at such a close proximity to the man, he couldn't sense a thing.

The Copy-Ninja's knuckles went white against the counter.

"He's ready for you now," he rumbled to the dignitary, holding out a hand to help her as she stepped gracefully off the stool.

"Thank you," she said offhandedly, turning to face Kakashi with those unreadable, inky-blue eyes, "please accept my apologies to cut this short, but I have something to attend to... I hope we meet again."

… _I hope you're proud of them._

"See-ya, onii-chan!" Naruto waved at her as she left, the men in the tent breathing a simultaneous sight of relief as she made her exit.

_Every day_, he thought, _every hour, every single minute I'm proud of them._

_It's been hard, the past few years. And not just on Naruto, on all of us. I'm not the type to get close to people, especially not ninja who could so easily be killed the next day, but I can't help but feel that I would miss this – as weird as it seems – brotherly feeling I get from teaching them. _

_I think, after everything, you could definitely call me proud. _

Despite how much he didn't want to admit it, the woman struck a chord with him. And while a little part of him couldn't care less, the rest of him was hoping they didn't have to meet again, because she seemed to get straight to personal terms with him in a few short sentences and Kakashi didn't trust people like that.

It was a clear sign of a manipulator.

While that fact became apparent, he realised; he never asked for her name in return.

* * *

_**Summary:**_ This story will definetly earn it's M rating because the main point of it is that the OC in question is very hard to resist for Kakashi. She spends the majority of her time manipulating him into staying with her while he plots escaping.

The bulk of it takes place in The Land of Ore, a peaceful nation run by my OC, who enjoys toying with Kakashi in order to try to make him forget that she actually kidnapped him. The main points deal with sex and desire, whether or not to give in, the fight-with-ones-libido and so on. While their relationship is a very strained one, alot of the time Kakashi finds himself giving in to her and slowly, it drives him over the edge until he doesn't quite know what he feels anymore. I also like to touch on the etiquette of politics and social grace, self-awarness and low self-esteem issues.

She's not very powerful other than being very intelligent and when faced with someone physically stronger she's very weak and pitiful; I will delve further into that if the story eventually progresses. Honestly, this story, in my opinion, has the most potential plot-wise because it's mainly about Kakashi's descent into madness. However, it's probably the least emotional of the three.


	3. Letters from Mae

_**Author's Notes:**_ And the last chapter. Once again, the same rules apply, just leave whichever story you prefer in the reviews section. I will try to PM everyone who reviews when I tally the votes to inform them of the chosen chapter.

**_Letters from Mae_**

"Naruto… I don't think this is such a good idea…"

Even though Sakura knew there was no-one around, she kept her voice to a bare minimum as her blonde cohort casually picked open the lock on one of the windows. It had been a bare five months since he came home from training with Jiraiya, and since then she began to realise just how much he learned while away. Picking locks was one of them.

"C'mon Sakura," his tongue stuck out of the side of his mouth when the latch finally clicked open to their sensei's apartment, "Kakashi never tells us _anything_ about himself, and I am not using the same trick on him twice trying to catch a fucking bell again. We need some leverage!"

While it was true, the only reason she agreed to helping him break into their ex-sensei's apartment was merely to satiate her own curiosity. Even between her training with Tsunade and her studies, she still saw Kakashi on a regular basis for some missions here and there, or even for coffee, and yet still she knew pretty much nothing other than his name. His medical file was far less personal than she wanted it to be; at some point in his late teens he was ordered to go on anti-depressants and one injury he sustained resulted in a flail-chest which nearly ended his existence there and then, but there was no _hows_ and _whys_ and _whats_.

Some traps here and there managed to slow them down, Naruto's right leg was tarred and feathered in a hilarious incident when trying to get through the window, but once inside, she couldn't help but think, despite the traps-

... Kakashi's apartment was rather homely, from the squishy, beaten old couch to the well used counters in the kitchen, everything looked purposeful and undeniably welcoming. Several bookcases full to bursting stood proudly behind a modest T.V., and in front of that a coffee table littered with a bottle weapon-grease, an old cloth, and variously sized kunai.

Naruto didn't waste a second darting around the small space, searching through the refrigerator (which Sakura had to pull him from, knowing from his drooling alone what was about to happen), all the cupboards and then eventually the bookcases.

"Hey…" the blonde straightened up, pulling up a picture frame with him and showing it to the kunoichi, "who do you think this is?"

The picture was of a rather handsome man, if in at least his forties, smiling knowingly as if he just caught the camera-man trying to sneakily take his picture. By his silver hair and the cut of his jaw, she presumed he was some sort of relation, if not probably Kakashi's father.

"A relation, maybe?" She turned the picture over, "There's no name on it."

Finally abandoning the restraint she was showing, Sakura began to rifle through the extensive list of books their sensei kept; from battered looking justu manuals, training diagrams, and then strangely enough; _fantasy novels_. And not the kind he was so frequently seen with either.

"So, sensei," she picked out a book labelled _Eve of Kahnard,_ "you're a fan of sword and sorcery, eh?"

"Jeeze, Kakashi-sensei reads a lot, doesn't he?" The male to her right piped up, running his fingers across some dusty looking scrolls to reveal the text.

She couldn't help but snort when she found some comics hidden in between a collection of encyclopaedia; at least he was still young at heart, or presumably a fan of the modern arts if the rest of the collection was anything to go by.

"Holy crap! Jackpot!"

The kunoichi balked when she realised that the "jackpot" was actually Kakashi's mail; her face paled when the ninja plonked himself down onto the couch and opened the letter deftly in both hands.

"Naruto, those are Kakashi-sensei's letters! You can't read those!"

"And why not?" He looked innocently over the top of the parchment.

"Because, that's a total violation of his privacy!"

The blonde blew a raspberry, "Sakura-chan, we just broke into his _apartment_," when his eyes reappeared over the top of the paper, he wiggled his brows suggestively, "and besides, this letter is _from a gir-irl_!"

"_What_?" Any care at that point for her sensei's privacy vanished without a trace as she snatched the letter out of the boy's hands and snarled, "Gimme that!"

Sakura never had any siblings, but sometimes she almost felt as though Kakashi was her rather strange older brother, and a fierce sense of protectiveness suddenly overcame her as inner-Sakura yelled; "_A __**girl**__? She'd better be amazing!_"

_Kakashi,_

_My sister is having a baby! She told me over coffee the other day, and I haven't been able to get over it since. Poor thing, she's had terrible trouble trying to get pregnant for the past few years, but it looks like it's finally happening! I just hope everything goes well this time, it's been three months already and that's longer than any pregnancy she's had so far, so keep her in your thoughts for me._

_I can't say much but I should be around the area soon, I'll explain when I get there. I'm really glad to hear your prodigal student has returned! I know you were worried, but if he's as strong as you say he is, then you must have known he would be safe all along, wouldn't you?_

_Take care,_

_Mae_

"… Mae?" She looked up from the letter to see Naruto grinning like a maniac, "who's _Mae_? Did Kakashi ever mention her before?"

"It's _totally_ his girlfriend," he stuck his tongue out at her, and Sakura twitched at the words. As much as she cared about Kakashi, she couldn't – could absolutely _not_ – see him in any sexual way at all and picturing him with a woman (mystery woman or no) didn't make sense in her mind.

_M-a-e_ could be initials for something, she thought as she turned the page over, ignoring how annoyingly neat and pretty the handwriting was when she tried to imagine that it could very well be a letter from a male friend. The printed date on the envelope dated back two weeks; she wondered if he wrote anything back yet.

"Hey," the taller male pulled open a drawer underneath the coffee table, "I think I found more."

And sure enough, haphazardly thrown into the small drawer were more of the same letters, all signed with the strange signature of _Mae_.

_Kakashi,_

_I read the book you recommended, but I thought it was really convoluted in comparison to her last work, don't you think? I was happy just knowing she only wrote one to be honest. Oh well. _

_Anyway, I know you asked me for that book but I haven't been able to find it __**anywhere!**__ Tsuoa in the store told me that they might have a few copies left in Rock country, if you know anyone there, it could be worth a try-_

_Kakashi,_

_I know you probably don't feel it but it certainly sounds like you're having fun! I'm so jealous; I would love to have students of my own to teach, just like Yura-sensei taught us how to dance. You should send me a picture of them-_

_Kakashi, _

_Don't worry about your handwriting, luckily for me I can speak fluent scribbles!_

_You know, if that's how you really feel, why don't you just tell him that the constant challenging is getting on your nerves? Or even give him some ground rules, like not waking you up at four in the morning to see who can run the fastest lap around the falls-_

Sakura stifled a laugh, knowing that Kakashi was probably complaining about Gai in his previous letter. Naruto tapped her on the shoulder and passed her a letter that was all crinkled and worn; some of the ink was smudged with what looked like water damage.

"I think you should read this, Sakura-chan," he said, his eyes solemn.

_Kakashi-san,_

_I know exactly how you feel. _

_It's the easiest thing in the world to blame ourselves, especially in times of a tragedy, because when we blame ourselves we can never be wrong, not like blaming others. It's so easy to take the burden, easy to carry it around because letting it go feels like you're denying it ever happened, like you're not even acknowledging its existence. _

_It's like carrying a big rock around, it just gets heavier and heavier the more you have it on your back. But can you imagine how good it would feel if you just put it down, can you imagine the relief if you just let it go?_

_I know you don't let it eat you up inside, I know you don't let it affect you all the time, and I'm so proud that you're so together even when things fall apart on you. But sometimes, we remember that we're still carrying this big weight around and it hits us just how heavy it is. It's called trauma; and hey we all have it, we all go through it, us kids of war. I used to have panic attacks before I eventually learned to let go and stop blaming myself. _

_It's not your fault Kakashi, I know how easy it is to shoulder the blame, but it just get's harder! You were so young, they put you in that situation knowing how young you were. You weren't ready, so please know it wasn't your fault. _

_As good as you were at that age, Kakashi, you couldn't have predicted the future._

_Please take care, and stay safe,_

_- Mae_

The letter looked far more used than the rest, with the rings of coffee stains on the top right corner, the crinkles, the yellowing of the page, and the small rips here and there. She understood why; he probably re-read it over and over, and suddenly she felt very ill.

"… This was totally wrong of us, Naruto,"

"Yeah," he replied dejectedly, shoving his hands into his pockets while Sakura neatly folded the letter and put it back in its rightful place, "let's get out of here."

"You're going to need to put everything back properly then," a gruff voice from behind stopped them dead in their tracks, and Sakura nearly fainted on the spot when they both whipped around to see Pakkun sitting lazily in the doorframe to Kakashi's bedroom.

"You know," he yawned widely, "I didn't say anything cuz I thought Kakashi-sama sent you two here to get something… I don't think he'll be too happy with you two snooping around his stuff."

Naruto dropped to his knees and bowed furiously, "Please, _please_ don't tell him oh noble war-hound! He'll _kill_ us, please don't rat us out, we're totally sorry!"

"Noble war-hound?" The dog sniggered, "Hey, if you say so. I'm not gonna tell him, but you're not the first to try you know. Though if he see's you've been tarred and feathered, he will come to the obvious conclusion…"

"You really won't tell him?" Sakura asked as Naruto desperately tried to remove the sticky black substance from his right pant's leg.

"Nah," the pug shrugged, "I'll put everything back the way it was. Just don't do anything like that again, okay? Kakashi-sama has his reasons for being secretive."

Naruto scooped up the dog into a bone-crushing hug, much to the animal's protest who was yelling _gerroffame_, "You're so awesome Pakkun! I'm buyin' you a steak the next time I see you!"

The dog perked up somewhat after that, and Sakura knew deep down he would never let Naruto get away with the promise of fresh red meat. After rushing Naruto back to his bed-sit for a change of clothes, they both agreed on buying their ex-sensei some lunch, both of them guiltily shifting around, not really knowing what to say.

She supposed, after some serious thinking, she never really saw Kakashi... sad. Or upset. Or joyful. Or even angry.

She'd seen him irritated, she'd even seen him mildly annoyed but she'd never seen him have a breakdown or lose the plot before. He was a little scary when he yelled, but it never lasted long, she'd never seen him cry and very rarely heard him laugh out loud. He always seemed so together and calm... so what was that letter about?

"For me?" Kakashi raised his visible brow when Naruto pushed the bowl of ramen towards him at Ichiraku's, "... Why do I get the feeling there's an ulterior motive here?"

"No motive," Naruto said sincerely through his food, "we just wanted to do something nice."

Sakura could tell by Naruto's eyes alone that something about his view of Kakashi was altered, and she would be lying if she said she didn't feel the same. As the older male sat down beside Naruto with suspicion in his frame, Sakura guiltily eyed him over Naruto's chopsticks.

Maybe she never really viewed him as a person before, as dependable and strong as he was he didn't show much emotion and it was very easy to forget he was just as human as everyone else. But now... sitting across the bar from her... Sakura started to feel a little sorry for him. She never took the time to ask him how he felt or how his day was going, and he never really bothered to tell anyone. He was fiddling with his chopsticks, stirring the soup around absentmindedly and staring off into space.

_... What is he thinking?_

But this person – _this Mae_ – obviously knew something about Kakashi and tried to comfort him, through _letters_. Perhaps it was better that way, maybe he didn't want to have to look people in the eye when pouring out his secrets and worries. But...

There was so much she didn't know, she never bothered to ask or try to find out and it frightened her to know-

To know that she wasn't really there if Kakashi needed someone to lean on.

* * *

_**Summary:**_ This story comes from many people's views. Usually when I write I like to follow one specific person or switch between two but here it is broken up to give many perspectives. Mae, my OC, is very like Kakashi in a way, but alot more expressive. She is another Ninja from Cloud, who also wears a nylon mask and teamed up with Kakashi on a related mission some years ago. They developed a raport and kept in touch through letters, which Kakashi keeps out of sentimentality.

I originally came up with this idea when thinking about Sakura and Naruto trying to think of a reason WHY Kakashi wears a mask and this character, who also wears a similar mask, popped out of no-where to explain it to them. So I ran with it, as you do :3

This story will also earn its M rating as it touches on alot of adult themes, such as prostiution, rape and molestation, desire and obviously sexual situations. One of my side-themes is actually about Sakura starting to hit puberty, and looking at men in a different light, different than she would have viewed Sasuke for example. Mae is here to help her learn about desire and sex, but is also a source of jealousy as Sakura develops a crush on her ex-sensei. I wanted to bring up the issue of the very poor sex-education that I have experienced through my school-years and how it doesn't really teach teens anything about a healthy sexuality so they start to experiment, thus my plot-bunny with Sakura. PLEASE bear in mind, none of this will be Sakura-bashing. I happen to like her character and using her as a plot tool really helped bring this story to life.

Mae is a Ninja, not nessecarily a very powerful one but she can certainly hold her own. Her main plot is that while Kakashi thinks he knows her, her brief stay in Konoha helps him find out things he may have not wanted to hear and most of the time he becomes more and more attached to her. Mae isn't very sexual; it may be her station as a Ninja but she tries to keep her work and her socialising seperate, and her views on sex and longing are very warped and eventually become very frightening. Kakashi is there to help her fill in the gaps and enjoy sex when she would have looked on it with dread.

Most of this plot-wise is to do with emotions and thought-processes between Kakashi, Mae, Sakura, Naruto and some random cameos here and there to give an outsider's perspective.


End file.
